Tomatina is the world's largest battle of tomatoes
In the city Buñol , close to Valencia, takes place every year during the last Wednesday of August a week of festivities that ends with a famous battle of tomatoes.
This improbable holiday would have as its origin a fight that broke out in 1945 on the main square of the small town of Buñol after young people had been denied access to a local holiday. They would have started to launch tomatoes from a small stall of fruit and vegetables. The following years, on the same day, they brought back their own tomatoes to fight again.
Another legend says that at a feast highlighting rabbits, some of these animals began to eat all the watermelons of a grocery store. To stop them, some participants threw tomatoes and touched others. A battle began...
Flickr – grahammclellan
In turn forbidden and allowed, it is in 1975 that the Tomatina becomes "framed" by an association of local farmers, Los Clavarios de San Luis Bertrán , which then manages the stock of tomatoes. The town of Buñol finally took over the event in 1980 to stimulate local tourism.
Source: Getty Images / Jasper Juneen
The day starts at 10am with the " palo jamón The goal of which is to climb a wooden pillar and covered with fat, at the top of which is hung a ham. As soon as this one is caught, the battle can begin.
Flickr – puuikibeach
There would be about 130 tons of tomatoes used for this mythical battle. These tomatoes are specially grown for the event and are of poor quality and cheap. Since the 2013 edition, it is necessary to pay 10€ per entry to participate, but only 20,000 tickets are allocated, including 5,000 free tickets for the premises.
Source: Getty Images / Jasper Juneen
This festival attracts tourists from all over the world as explained by the company that sells tickets. The Australian, Japanese, and British would be most interested in taking part in the battle. Rules have been established not to have too many injuries. These include crushing tomatoes before throwing them.
Flickr – RenoTahoe
In the end, the streets are obviously filled with tomato pulp. They are cleaned immediately after the end of the festivities, making the streets clean thanks to the use of tomato juice acidity.
You can see on this video of the Spanish TV the crowd present in one of the streets of the city of Buñol!
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